Cookie Palooza 2011, A Retrospective, Part 2

Original post date: Monday, 12/6/11

The last day of my 3-day weekend, and what did I do? Bake. Again.

cranberry bread

Well, I also swept, vacuumed, and did a load of laundry, but mostly I was in the kitchen. I made another 2 loaves of cranberry bread because, really, you can't have enough and I'll probably bring a loaf or 2 to work again for the overnight doc since she decimated the first loaf I brought her. Plus, it freezes beautifully, so if I decide to be greedy and keep it all to myself... well, there you go.

meringue cookies

In addition to the cranberry bread, I also tried out yet another new-to-me recipe for meringue cookies. They were pretty easy to make, but I won't know how they taste until tomorrow since they will cool in the oven overnight. Normally, when I try a new recipe for the first time (at least when it comes to baking) I stick pretty close to the recipe as written. Not today, though. Nope. I changed up the flavoring in these meringues by using dark chocolate chips (60% cacao) and orange zest, one of my favorite flavor combinations, so I can't wait to taste them.

Addendum: The most IMPORTANT lesson I learned about making meringue cookies is to line the damn cookie sheets with parchment paper like the recipe tells you!